TECH CONSULTANCY EYES EMERGING ECONOMIES
In the past five years, technology consulting firm GIBC Digital has opened offices in Boston, Hong Kong, London, Singapore and Tampa. Now, the firm is turning its focus to new markets.
In its largest year of growth to date, the Stamford-based company has expanded to the Bahamas and is gearing up for a launch in West Africa. The new locations reflect GIBC’s confidence in the potential of developing countries, where it sees an opportunity to help develop worker skills and tackle major quality-of-life challenges.
“We’ve really done a good job of differentiating ourselves from some of the bigger consultancies,” Greg Wood, GIBC’s founder and CEO, said in an interview earlier this month at GIBC’s main offices, in the downtown Stark Office Suites, at 243 Tresser Blvd. “It’s really by taking that roll-up-our-sleeves approach to the work we do and driving change.”
In the Bahamas, GIBC is launching a training center in the capital, Freeport. It plans to employ about 50 there by the end of this year, with the intent of supporting the development of the Bahamian workforce’s technol- ogy capabilities.
GIBC’s mission in the Caribbean nation will focus on helping professionals use technology to bring down costs and improve health care access. Development of airport infrastructure will also be a priority.
“One of the things that really attracted us to that region was the desire of the current (government) administration that just came in last year to make some changes that would facilitate Grand Bahama (island) becoming a tech hub,” Wood said. “Because of the way we approach markets we enter, by coming in and training people, it seemed ideally suited for that market in particular.”
Following the Bahamas expansion, GIBC plans to open an office this summer in Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos. About 50 people would staff that center.
“Some of the changes we’re talking about making have a profound impact on the quality of life of people who live there,” Wood said. “By driving process improvements, automation and digitization of paper records, we can make a big difference to reduce (hospital stays) from two or three days to two or three hours.”
GIBC also plans to open offices later this year or next year in Johannesburg, Dublin and Toronto.
The firm would benefit in its overseas expansion from the strong reputation U.S. technology companies enjoy overseas, said Niam Yaraghi, an assistant professor of operations and information management at the University of Connecticut and a nonresident fellow in the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation.
But he also cited significant challenges in entering emerging markets.
“When it comes to health care, countries like Nigeria have their own requirements, just like the U.S. has its own,” Yaraghi said. “They can’t just use the technologies already developed here and roll it out in other markets. They’ll have to make significant adjustments in order to make sure they’re responding to customers’ needs and government regulations.”
The move into health care delivery and emerging markets complements GIBC’s work in financial services. Its clients include Bank of America, Barclays, Bridgewater Associates, Citibank, J.P. Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS.
Founded in 2011, the firm last year relocated its main offices from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Stamford, where about 15 are based. Its letters stand for governance, infrastructure, business change and compliance.
“Stamford has proximity to New York and Boston, and we have a lot of people who live in Fairfield county and prefer to not have to commute,” Wood said. “This is a great place to do business without the expense and time it takes to get to Manhattan.”
“We’ve really done a good job of differentiating ourselves from some of the bigger consultancies. It’s really by taking that roll-up-our-sleeves approach to the work we do and driving change.”
Greg Wood, GIBC Digital founder and CEO